Spring Revelations

Posted on May 29, 2014 by paulmozina

Thanks for tuning into my posts. I hope you will bear with me — I’m trying to absorb some shocking revelations.

Its been 20 years since the events we all know as the Rwandan Genocide occurred and I’d never doubted or questioned the story that the Hutus massacred the Tutsis. So I was stunned to learn that the truth is the exact opposite. Here is James Corbett‘s introduction to his interview with Christopher Black.

Christopher Black is a Toronto-based international criminal lawyer who has spent the last 14 years successfully defending former Rwandan Gendarmerie General Augustin Ndindiliyimana at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. In that 14 years, Black has uncovered copious evidence about what really happened in the so-called “100 Days” of 1994 and the four year civil war that led up to it. Today on the program, Black shares that information with us and deconstructs the lies that continue to be propagated about the Rwandan genocide.

Jame’s interview with Keith Harmon provides more historical context…

Keith Harmon Snow has extensive experience in Africa as a journalist, photographer and genocide investigator who attended the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda. He joins us today to discuss the 20th anniversary of the “100 days” and how the true story of the genocide (and who was really behind it) has been completely inverted by politicians, the press, Hollywood and everyone else with a vested interest in what happened there.

…as does this article by Keith Harmon Snow.

How could I have been so wrong about something that I thought I knew and firmly believed? It’s humbling, and disconcerting, to say the least.

“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” — George Orwell

The Buckthorn Man is attempting to control the present at The Springs — one buckthorn at a time. The last few times out I’ve been splitting the day between cutting buckthorn near the trailhead parking lot in the morning and cutting garlic mustard in the afternoons. The weather was spectacular and the mosquitoes haven’t arrived yet. It was blissful!

This was the scene Sunday morning, May 25th, on the edge of a patch of buckthorn between the trail and Hwy ZZ, just east of the parking lot.

It was slow going but I made some progress.

Then I headed over to the area north of the hotel and cut garlic mustard. The jury is out as to whether or not this approach will work. I’m on my third lap around cutting the areas of major garlic mustard infestation that adjoin the trail. The north and south perimeters of the Scuppernong Springs Nature Preserve are thick with garlic mustard and I plan to work on these areas in the coming years.

Late afternoon at the marl pit bridge.

I love this patch of columbine near the hotel bridge.

Sunset out on the marl pit.

It threatened rain Wednesday morning but it turned into a beautiful, warm, sunny day. I took up right where I left off on Sunday, working on the strip of buckthorn between the trail and Hwy ZZ. There are going to be amazing sunsets over Ottawa Lake that will now be visible from the trail.

I think there is just one more day of work to finish this thicket of buckthorn!

The next series of shots were taken while walking west to east on the cut-off trail. I’ll never forget how my good friend Lindsay Knudsvig ripped a path through the buckthorn back in the fall of 2012. This trail is sweet as can be so check it out if you haven’t done so yet.

The valley of the Scuppernong River headwaters.

The lupine on the west slope of the sand prairie are peeking!

Another marl pit sunset.

See you at The Springs!

Flower Power

Posted on May 24, 2014 by paulmozina

If your heart is burdened come, to the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail and feel the healing flower power. The soothing outbursts of form, color and texture will soften the rough edges in your mind and bring you peace and calm.

Resurgent lymes symptoms knocked me off my horse after the Whitewater Oak Opening burn and I was temporarily blinded to the beauty of life. Yesterday was the first time in two weeks that I felt “normal”. The antibiotics are helping my body heal but it’s flower power that is healing my mind.

Columbine at the Hotel Springs bridge.

Large-flowered Bellwort just around the corner.

Kitten Tails and Pussy Toes near the Emerald Springs spur boardwalk.

Wood Betony and Marsh Marigolds.

This is a perfect time to see a huge variety of woodland flowers at The Springs!

Sleeping seemed like the best option for a while there, but I willed myself back into action last Monday. Siddhartha taught me to listen to the river and Jayne Jenks, with the Waukesha County Parks and Land Use, taught me how to test the water’s quality. I’m now part of the Water Action Volunteers — Citizen Stream Monitoring team and happy with my site on the Scuppernong River, where it crosses Hwy Z, just downstream of its confluence with the South Branch.

I stopped at The Springs on my way there to re-girdle some of the aspen near the hotel site.

Carl Baumann was there removing a huge, dead, black locust that had broken off and was leaning into a cherry tree and hanging over the south end of the trail. Thanks Carl! Our friend Marty came back with his skid steer loader and smoothed out the tracks he laid in the mud this past spring.

Wednesday was my first real day back at work and I was pretty light-headed and emotionally unstable by the end of the day. I started with the chainsaw on the south end of the trail, where I want to extend the sand prairie and continue opening up the “big sky” views out towards the Scuppernong River Habitat Area.

I’ve been focusing on garlic mustard lately, but I need to cut buckthorn to preserve my sanity…

… and balance!

I spent the afternoon whacking garlic mustard on the south end of the loop trail.

When I woke up yesterday, I was raring to go — back to my old self! I started with the buckthorn near the parking lot on Hwy ZZ.

You’ll be able to see the sun setting over Ottawa Lake as you return to the parking lot when I get the rest of this mess cut.

I spent the late afternoon cutting garlic mustard north of the hotel site.

The views of the north side of the river are outstanding.

I missed the sunsets!

Out on the marl pit.

See you at The Springs!

Burn the Whitewater Oak Opening!

Posted on May 13, 2014 by paulmozina

It’s been another busy burn season in the Kettle Moraine State Forest — Southern Unit. The biggest burn unit was 1,110 acres in the Scuppernong River Habitat Area stretching north from Hwy 59 and west of Hwy N, just a bit west of Eagle.

The crew from the Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation focuses on the State Natural Areas but during burn seasons they jump in where ever they are needed. Last Saturday, May 10, they burned the Whitewater Oak Opening SNA, which contains a unit of the Clifford F Messinger Dry Prairie & Savanna SNA.

Zach Kastern turned me on to this area last September.

As the team gathered from working on the firebreaks, you could sense that this might be the last burn of the year and they were determined to make it a good one. Nate Fayram was the burn boss.

Here is the burn unit.

The terrain is classic Kettle Moraine!

Nate thoroughly reviewed all aspects of the burn plan with the team, which consisted of DNR veterans: Jessica Renley, Kevin Doyle, Adam Stone, Jared Urban, Alex Wenthe, Bridget Rathman and volunteers: Gary Birch, Ben Johnson and myself.

Defending private property within the burn unit was the highest priority.

I worked the drip torch all day and there is definitely an art to efficiently delivering the flaming drops of diesel and gas.

We got a nice little head fire running up the hill in this area somewhere between points E and G.

Black zone along Highway P.

We tied in the lines near point K at around 5:05pm and then proceeded to burn out the interior. The fire didn’t always carry over the moraines or deep into the kettles so we had to crisscross the interior with our drip torches to complete the burn. I was really pooped from going up and down the steep moraines and it was sweet to be released after my drip torch was emptied for the last time.

I parked my truck where Easterly Rd meets Kettle Moraine Drive at point C and took a walk into the burn unit.

I got up on a high ridge overlooking one of the hillside prairies and I could hear their chainsaws whining as they took down burning snags; they were still hard at work!

Jared Urban would monitor the burn unit all night and Nate planned to return in the morning to complete the mop up. We are lucky to have such a hard working and dedicated DNR team taking care of our State Natural Areas!

See you at The Springs!

Hognose Snakes

Posted on May 7, 2014 by paulmozina

I met my first hognose snake of the year with the tip of my brush cutter. Darn it! I watched helplessly as it writhed in pain, snarling angrily at me. I’m on the lookout for them now! When you encounter one on the trail, The Springs feel more wild.

Carl Koch captured these wild hogs at The Springs last year.

Sue Hrobar caught this hognose displaying its classic defensive posture: “When threatened, hognose snakes will flatten their necks and raise their heads off the ground, like a cobra, and hiss.” (from Wikipedia)

I’m getting more intimately familiar with every square foot at The Springs as I continue attacking garlic mustard with my brush cutter. Guiding a brush cutter focuses your attention to detail much more so than waving a poison spray wand. In many cases I found the garlic mustard amidst many diverse flowers and grasses. Using the brush cutter definitely causes less collateral damage than spraying a non-selective herbicide like glyphoste. Rich Csavoy suggested this approach and it will take a few years to judge its effectiveness.

Over 5 days I have worked at all of the locations where I sprayed garlic mustard in previous years and I have to note that, in some cases, particularly on the cut-off trail, the poison significantly reduced the amount of garlic mustard. Last year the area near where the cut-off trail merges with the main trail at the marl pit factory was carpeted with garlic mustard and this year there was barely a plant or two, and the forest floor is alive with sedges and flowers. I’ll speculate here that this area did not have as much garlic mustard seed in the soil as others areas where the mustard came back strong after spraying.

Sunday I worked on the south end of the loop trail in and around the bowl with the vernal pond.

It was a peaceful day and I did a little yoga on the marl pit bridge to unwind at the end. Here is the view from the old barn site.

I returned yesterday to work in the area around the old hotel site, then near signpost #13, and finally, along the cut-off trail. It was a blessed warm, sunny, bug-free day with fragrant breezes blowing in from the northeast.

Garlic mustard on the hillside at the old hotel site.

As I was finishing up at the hotel, I heard the sound of heavy machinery working on Hwy 67; they were taking down the black locust trees I girdled back in March. I was headed that way to signpost #13 with my wheel barrow and stopped to check it out.

I don’t know what this machine is called, but I think Hognose is a fitting description.

The operator of this hydraulic hercules was a virtuoso, and I could have watched him for hours.

I’ve never seen forestry done like this before. Below, Steve Tabat cuts the base of a tree and his partner pushes it over. Check out the snout on this hog and the way it chews off logs and spits them out at the end of the video.

I returned to admire their work after cutting garlic mustard all afternoon.

Again, the person operating this log loader was an adept and it was a pleasure to watch him drive that huge machine through tight spots and skillfully manipulate the log picker.

The corner of Hwy ZZ and Hwy 67.

I’m glad to see the black locust go and I have a lot of respect for the hard-working foresters, who were paid for their efforts in wood; the coin of the realm.

From there I headed over to the boat landing at Ottawa Lake to check out the brush and tree removal the DNR did there this past winter.

Above you can see the shadow of the mighty oak below.

These nice improvements compliment the buckthorn clearing we have been doing on the east shore of the lake, which you can see in the views from the fishing pier and boat launch dock.

My new favorite place to hang out, meditate, and do yoga after working is the observation deck at the handicap accessible cabin.

The Emerald Spring is really looking the part these days. This past winter was a hard one and I often saw ducks feeding and staying warm in the river. I wonder if the algae bloom might be fueled by duck poop?

Sunset at the marl pit bridge.

See you at The Springs!

Buckthorn Man Accepts Bitcoin!

Posted on May 3, 2014 by paulmozina

I’m pleased to announce that The Buckthorn Man will now be accepting bitcoin donations to support his work at the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail. Here is the QR code for my Blockchain.info wallet. Just scan it into your favorite bitcoin payment system and start sending bitcoins to me now!

I sympathize if this is moving a bit too fast for you. You might even be asking ‘what is he talking about?’ or, ‘what has The Buckthorn Man been smoking?’ It is no hyperbole to refer to bitcoin as a movement; it is one of the most exciting new technologies to come along since the internet. From the November 2013 ssue of BitcoinMagazine:

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer digital currency. It does not depend on any particular organization or person and it is not backed by any commodity like gold or silver. Bitcoin is a name for both: the currency and the protocol of storage and exchange. Just like dollars or gold, Bitcoin does not have much direct use value. It is valued subjectively according to one’s ability to exchange it for goods.

It took me a bit of investigation to appreciate the revolutionary, game-changing, nature of bitcoin. From it’s roots, eloquently expressed by it’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto, it has matured into a bonafide, 21st century solution, to the corruption endemic in our current, central banker controlled, fiat money system. The Federal Reserve banks are privately owned and, with the passage of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, the U.S. Congress bestowed on them the power to create money out of thin air; they are accountable to no one. Just listen to former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke telling Representative Alan Grayson to pound sand when he asked which foreign banks got bailed out to the tune of $550,000,000,000 during the meltdown of 2008.

But it is the bitcoin software and distributed architecture that has captured my attention. I cut my teeth programming in C++ and when I found out that bitcoin was written in this language, I had to take a look at the source code, which is open to anyone to inspect, or clone to build something totally new. I’m off on a new adventure and, if I can get my chops back, I’d love to go back to work programming for a bitcoin startup (I can hardly believe I’m saying that.)

Meanwhile, back at The Springs, my bête noire is Garlic Mustard. It’s everywhere and I’ve noticed that in the places where I sprayed it with glyphosate the past three years, it is the only thing that has survived. I committed to going organic because of my fear of poisoning the water in this sensitive location at the headwaters of the Scuppernong River, and my concern about collateral damage, and now the reality of that challenge is daunting me. I will dig it out of the highest quality locations, or where there are just a few plants, but for the majority of the infestation, I’m going to try cutting it back with the brush cutter to prevent it from going to seed; a fool’s errand perhaps.

Last Wednesday, after dropping off the Buckthorn Barrow at one of the piles Dick Jenks cut up…,

…I worked on the south end of the loop trail wacking garlic mustard with my brush cutter. Let me know if you have seen enough garlic mustard pictures.

I have no illusions that this will kill the plants, I’m just hoping that, with repeated mowings, I can prevent it from going to seed. I mowed all day and then took a walk around the loop and admired this new signpost, #9, marking the location of the hatching house (see Maps and Brochures.) Thanks to Jim Davee and Melaine Kapinos for making it happen!

Is it ever going to get warm and sunny?

Yesterday, I was back at it, this time cutting garlic mustard in the area by the old gnarly oak and the old barn site at the bend in the river.

I’m going to stick it out with this experiment and hopefully the garlic mustard cuttings won’t take root and make matters even worse. If you are walking the trails at The Springs, and you see some garlic mustard flowering, please, stop and pull it. And, send me bitcoin if you can!